Why University Education?
Protocol
On behalf of the staff and students of Godfrey Okoye University, I warmly welcome each of you to this 17th matriculation of our beloved Godfrey Okoye University. I would like to thank parents and guardians, particularly those who have travelled from distant places, in spite of the enormous challenges of travelling in Nigeria, to be present on this occasion. I would like to express profoundest gratitude to all benefactors and benefactresses of our university who have made incalculable sacrifices in cash and kind to sustain the breathtaking tempo of progress of this university. Godfrey Okoye University is seen by Nigerians as a blessed university because of you. Besides, you have entered our space from every part of Nigeria and from many countries of the world. May God bless you through the daily masses and prayers of this God‘s Own University.
My dear matriculating students, I would like to congratulate you on your successful admission to pursue various degrees in Godfrey Okoye University. In choosing Godfrey Okoye University, you have chosen to study in the best private university in the Southeast and one of the best ten private universities in Nigeria. In choosing Godfrey Okoye University, you have chosen a university that combines the pursuit of academic excellence with spiritual solidity and prayerfulness. In choosing Godfrey Okoye University, you have made a choice for theoretical trainings embellished with sound practical experiences. In choosing Godfrey Okoye University, you have chosen a university that understands university as an epistemic space for the acquisition of skills. In choosing Godfrey Okoye University, you have made a choice for variegated and multifaceted national and global competitions. In choosing Godfrey Okoye University, you have made a choice for a university where success is not an option but a desideratum. In choosing Godfrey Okoye University, you have chosen scientific discourses over mythic vituperations. In choosing Godfrey Okoye University, you have chosen to be asking (in all human actions and intellectual engagements) our GO Question ‘where is the evidence?’ In choosing Godfrey Okoye University, you have chosen discipline and healthy growth over rascality and moral degradation of our times. I warmly welcome you to the GO Uni world!
My dear matriculant (Mat 17), have you ever asked yourself this question: why do I have to study at a university? Do I really need university education? I think such a question will clarify a lot of things for you and provide the motivation needed for a rigorous academic pursuit in the university. I would like you to place this question on the scale of more fundamental philosophical questions:
- Why are there things rather than nothing? (metaphysics)
- What can I know? (epistemology)
- What should I do?(ethics/morality)
- What may I hope for? (religion/belief)
- What is the human being? (anthropology)
Questions like this will not only help you to be profound in your thoughts but will also inspire you to answer any question about the why of university education. So I ask again: why study at a university? I think one reason why you may choose to study at university is to have a firm grasp of some areas of human knowledge. Of course knowledge can be acquired through various channels without passing through the university. However, university still offers the space for the meeting of students and teachers in a defined space for learning designed in such a way that it is easier for a young mind to learn in bits, and in gradual progression, the learning stuff. Today there are more teachers than we can imagine, more voices than the ears can hear as well as the all-intrusive anonymous masters of the AI tools. It is easy for young minds to get lost in a seeming ‘tohu va-bohu’ of such a space. Universities have a structured space with curricula, classrooms, laboratories, hostels and human experts to enhance learning and development.
Besides, we go to university to learn skills in a structured environment. Some skills can of course be acquired without going to university. But knowledge-driven skills are best learned in a university and in well-planned programmes of learning. It is important that you know that employability depends a lot on the skills you have. One of the fundaments skills you will learn at university is problem-solving skills (analytical thinking, creativity, decision-making, communication and research skills). Our environment is structured in such a way that you learn these skills in all facets of our life in GO. You will realise that the questions you get in examinations will require the deployment of your problem-solving skills. Your university inspires you not only to ask questions or identify problems but also to solve them or offer smart solutions. Our directorates of entrepreneurship and competitions strive to hone your skills of problem-solving. Godfrey Okoye University will train you in such a way that you become a leader who goes beyond identifying problems to the one who also solves problems in a smart fashion.
Furthermore, a university is a preferred space for networking, connections and development of social intelligence. Godfrey Okoye University helps young people network by bringing them from different places and putting them in an environment which enhances networking and connections. We insist that no student, no matter how rich the parents or guardians are, will live alone in a room. This is part of our philosophy of dialogue. Students must learn to live with others and develop social skills (communication, interpersonal and interaction skills). University is a space for building good relationships that may develop into strong professional relationships, research teams or even permanent relationships for good partnerships or marriages. Many graduates of Godfrey Okoye University have found the love of their life in our university and are happily married. Nothing is as beautiful as a GO marrying a GO. The children automatically become GO children, children destined to lead in the world.
Moreover, a university is an environment to grow and become more independent, learning to manage one’s finances and time. Before now most of you depended heavily on your parents. Many did not know how to cook, wash and iron their clothes, sleep alone, wake up without being assisted, go to school independently, manage finances, etc. Now you no longer have your parents to assist you in all this. You have to learn to get on well without parental tutelage and dictations. You must grow. Ada must be a woman and Obi must be a man. As Rudyard Kipling writes:
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!
And I add: you will be woman, my daughter!
Finally, being in a university opens windows and doors for new experiences. In the next four, five or six years, you will meet, greet, hug or kiss new experiences. Some you will find repulsive, some sweet and delicious. Do not be afraid of new experiences:
For A New Beginning | John O’Donohue- To Bless the Space Between Us
In out-of-the-way places of the heart,
Where your thoughts never think to wander,
This beginning has been quietly forming,
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.For a long time it has watched your desire,
Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,
Noticing how you willed yourself on,
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.It watched you play with the seduction of safety
And the gray promises that sameness whispered,
Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,
Wondered would you always live like this.Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
And out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again with energy and dream,
A path of plenitude opening before you.Though your destination is not yet clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with your life’s desire.Awaken your spirit to adventure;
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm,
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.
And remember Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken”, where the decision to take a particular road has made all the difference.
My dear matriculating students (MAT 17),
I would like to round off this speech with a letter addressed to you. I feel incredibly happy to see you here today, especially on the occasion of this academic rite of passage called matriculation, which gives you full membership of our beloved university. I understand the tearing experience of a life away from the comfort of home. Many of you have for the first time the experience of being far from home and its warm, comforting embrace. No doubt many of you are already wearing the colours of your new experiences in carriage and verbal expressions. Of course some are still wrestling like Jacob but refusing to let go of the angel of the challenges until they are blessed with victory. I would like to assure you that you will succeed in Godfrey Okoye University and surely become that happy, fully mature person of your dreams. As you take the dishes of knowledge and skills offered
As you take the dishes of knowledge and skills offered by this university, please eat to your fill. As Alexander Pope writes:
A little learning is a dangerous thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring:
There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
And drinking largely sobers us again.
Be also interested in social and co-curricular activities of Godfrey Okoye University. Your university wants you to develop your talents and be known for at least one good thing. Do not forget that your university shuns anonymity and unabashed celebration of mediocrity and idiocy. A real GO is a student of GO with an insatiable desire to develop himself or herself to the fullest.
Furthermore, pay attention to all trainings and lectures on financial intelligence. Always have a budget based on the income available to you (not wishful expectation) before spending your money. Find the real price of something by comparing different offers and prices before payment. If it is possible, please check prices in the open market and learn to haggle prices. You must always ask yourself this question: is this thing my priority now? This is an important question before buying anything. Always save money no matter how little it is. You may need to take some courses in financial intelligence. Also remember that your university is a praying university. You must attend common prayers and services of the university. Do not forget that GO is a no-go area for cultism, drug addiction, theft, thuggery, bullying, banditry, “Yahoo-Yahoo”, rascality, pugilism, pugnacity, examination malpractice, practice of gay, lesbianism and allied offences. Please avoid what will lead to suspension or expulsion as spelt out in our rules and regulations. I raise my hands to heaven and ask God to bless you. May God bless you with good health to pursue your studies in Godfrey Okoye University! May God bless you with tremendous success in all your examinations! May God bless you with good results in all university competitions! May the Lord help you to acquire skills that will make you a leader wherever you are! May God bless your parents and guardians with long life so that they may reap the fruit of their investment in you! May God bless all our staff so that they will be healthy and continue to do their work in our university. May the Lord give you good friends on campus! May the Lord bless you today and all the days of your life! Peace be with you!
Yours sincerely,
Fr-Vice Chancellor
Finally, I would like to congratulate all sandwich and postgraduate students who are matriculating today. May God grant you success in our university. I thank all members of staff and students, parents, guardians and friends of Godfrey Okoye University for being here today. I ask God to bless you through the daily masses and prayers of our university through Christ our Lord!
Rev. Fr. Prof. Dr. Christian
Vice Chancellor